Part 1

VOL. XXXIII. No. 1.

THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”

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JANUARY, 1879.

_CONTENTS_:

EDITORIAL.

OUR OUTLOOK FOR 1879 1 OUR APPEAL FOR THE NEW YEAR 2 THE LORD’S WORK AND THE LORD’S COMING 3 THE LONDON UNION MISSIONARY CONFERENCE 3 POLITICAL PROGRESS OF THE FREEDMEN: Rev. M. E. Strieby 4 THESE MY BRETHREN 6 FIVE TESTS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION: Prof. C. D. Hartranft, D. D. 7 RETURN OF REV. FLOYD SNELSON 10 ITEMS FROM THE CHURCHES 10 GENERAL NOTES 11 OUR QUERY COLUMN 14

THE FREEDMEN.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Revival in Howard University 14 VIRGINIA—A Destitute County 14 ALABAMA—New Church at Shelby Iron Works—Talladega a Missionary Centre 15 FLORENCE—Thin End of the Wedge—First Thanksgiving Service 16 MISSOURI—Free Schools in the State 17

AFRICA.

THE MENDI MISSION—A Church Organized and Dedicated at Avery 18

THE INDIANS.

THE LATE INDIAN WAR AND CHRISTIANITY: Rev Myron Eells 20

THE CHINESE.

CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN CHINESE: Rev. W. C. Pond 21

RECEIPTS 24

WORK, STATISTICS, WANTS, ETC. 27

PLEASE READ, THINK, COPY AND MAIL 28

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NEW YORK:

Published by the American Missionary Association,

ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.

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Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

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PRESIDENT.

HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio. Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis. Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass. Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me. Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct. WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I. Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass. Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I. Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I. Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y. Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill. Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C. Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La. HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich. Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H. Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct. DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio. Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt. SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y. Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn. Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y. Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon. Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa. Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill. EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H. DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J. Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct. Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct. A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y. Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn. Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn. Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa. Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California. Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon. Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C. Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis. S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass. PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass. Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass. Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct. Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa. Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct. Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct. Sir PETER COATS, Scotland. Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng. WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y. J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass. Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ct. DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct. A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass. Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y. FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt. JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_. REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_. REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.

EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._ H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._ REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ALONZO S. BALL, A. S. BARNES, EDWARD BEECHER, GEO. M. BOYNTON, WM. B. BROWN, CLINTON B. FISK, A. P. FOSTER, E. A. GRAVES, S. B. HALLIDAY, SAM’L HOLMES, S. S. JOCELYN, ANDREW LESTER, CHAS. L. MEAD, JOHN H. WASHBURN, G. B. WILLCOX.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the “American Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his order as _Assistant Treasurer_.

A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XXXIII. JANUARY, 1879. No. 1.

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American Missionary Association.

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OUR OUTLOOK FOR 1879.

The review of our last year’s work has been so recently and so fully given in connection with the annual meeting of the Association, that it is scarcely needful for us to ask our readers to join us in another survey of what has already been accomplished. It is more fitting, as we stand upon the threshold of the new year, to ask what are the signs of the times, and what the demands of the work before us.

There are still dark clouds in the Southern sky. A mere granting of civil and political rights by formal enactment is of small importance unless the rights themselves are honestly allowed and faithfully accepted. The adjustment of alleged wrongs we must leave to politicians if not to statesmen, and to courts of law if not of justice. Our work, obscure and remote as it may seem, is more fundamental and important than that of either Congresses or courts. For by whatever defences the Freedman may or may not be surrounded, the only safeguard of his rights must be in his fitness to exercise and his ability to maintain them. It is for us, through all the changes of the year, to keep steadily to our work. It is not checked because the winter is upon us; nor will it be over when the summer comes. It is not for this year’s harvesting alone that we are working; we are sub-soiling and so laboring for the permanent reclamation of these vast fields. We believe that more depends upon the moral and intellectual elevation of the Freedmen of our land, not only in regard to their welfare, but in regard to the great questions of which they are only a factor, than upon anything which can be done for them by legislative enactment or military power. We purpose, then, to press on with the school and the church. Intelligence and virtue are the Jachin and Boaz, the two great pillars of the porch of the Temple of American citizenship and liberty. While it rests on anything else, it is uncertain and unsafe.

Our lesser work at home among the Indians and Chinese will demand the same moderate but constant share of our attention as before. Our connection with the six Indian Agencies, through the Interior Department, is not a matter of expense, but mainly of time and care. If we shall be relieved from that, our missionary work will still remain and may be enlarged. And though the immigration of Chinamen has been checked to some degree, and their interest in learning English has been abated by the abuse they have received, the work has been, and is yet, too fruitful of good to be given up.

Our African mission has passed through one year under its new organization, with apparent prosperity and success. We shall need to strengthen its forces before long. We shall want both the men and the means.

There is work enough in our outlook and encouragement to do it. We would remind our readers as well as ourselves, that the year which is most full of sacrifice and service for the Master, is most sure of all to be _A Happy New Year_.

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OUR APPEAL FOR 1879.

Our friends are thoroughly informed of the fact that our debt of late has been rapidly diminishing. We are sorry to say that _the same thing is true of our income_. That, too, has been growing less. We learn that this is true, also, of our sister societies. They, also, have noticed a falling off in their revenues. We do not like to make much ado over our troubles; but we have been very frank in acknowledging our mercies, and we owe it to the work, and to those who sustain it, to tell them our perplexities as well.

Our receipts for the last two months have been very inadequate for the work we have in hand. What does this mean to us with this outlook for 1879? Does it signify withdrawal from fields already under cultivation? Already the Executive Committee have had under serious advisement two cases, in which it was necessary either to stop fruitful work at important points or spend a little more money. Retrenchment is easier to talk of than to accomplish. It costs as much sometimes to stop as to go on. A temporary suspension is sometimes more expensive than continuous work. Our teachers are engaged and our buildings are prepared for the year. Shall we stop the whole machinery of a great factory to save the price of the gas which lights it? That would be ruinous economy indeed.

But we do not seriously believe that the friends of the three most needy races on our continent have lost heart, or hope, or means, to carry out the generous plans they have devised. These last months of 1878 have been trying alike to them and to us. Our plea is only this, that, with the new year (if the debt be not by that time altogether a thing of the past), there may be a fresh and final attack upon that enemy of our peace; and more even than this, that there may be a fuller and a steadier flow of the Lord’s money into our treasury for the wants of the work of 1879.

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We are happy to say that a goodly number of ladies whom we have asked to assume the responsibility of raising a share of $25, towards the payment of our debt, have replied favorably. The following extract from a letter sent us by one who has been abundant in her efforts for the Freedmen, indicates the enthusiasm and thankfulness with which some of the ladies respond:

Your kind letter of November 26th found me watching in the sick room of my brother; but my heart went right up to God in gratitude that I was not forgotten by the officers of the A. M. A., and that they still think I can do something to help on this great work. I have never ceased to be interested in the work in all its length and breadth, and to do what little I can for it. The debt has occupied much of my thought. I have wanted to do something to help pay it beyond the little I could give myself. Now that I can go out under your guardianship, I will be one of two hundred to raise one share ($25), and as much more as I can. I am sure the debt will soon be paid. There should be no lack of funds to carry on this work. It is very strange our _nation_ cannot see it and feel it too.

An old and faithful friend from Sag Harbor, N. Y., sends us thirty dollars to make a life member. At the same time he asks us to star the names of his two oldest children, who were among the first of the twenty whom he has thus added to our list. They have gone up higher. He concludes thus:

I was much interested in reading the article in December number, page 387, “Students Want to ‘Batch’—Who will Help?” I would like for my $30 to go to assist in building one of those $100 houses. Can’t you get some one to add the other $70, and put up one of those dwellings for those scholars who are so anxious to get an education to teach and to preach?

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THE LORD’S WORK AND THE LORD’S COMING.

One of our friends, (Rev. T. S. Robie, North Carver, Mass.,) who was at our annual meeting at Taunton, remembering doubtless that the Prophetic Conference was in session during the same days in New York City, puts the two things together thus:

One comes from a meeting like that, through which glimpses are caught of opportunities for work, of openings by the Unseen Hand into spheres of service which stretch out into the future beyond the range of our human vision, with the overwhelming conviction that the Lord isn’t just at present to stop the wheels of this world. It is not _like_ the Lord to give such problems to His people, which are pressing upon this Christian nation today with such power, and which demand time for their solution, and then to cut the Gordian knot by the sword of His “coming,” as if He had met with a tangled question which He himself could not untie. The red, blue and white and black marble, which Divine Providence has brought into this land, tell of a building of God grander than any Persian palace, the foundations of which seem to be just being laid, rather than the completion thereof to be nigh at hand. The vastness of the preparation points to the magnificence of the Lord’s dominion in the hearts and over the lives of men.

The Book of God’s Providence is as much inspired as the Bible itself. And whoever studies the former as prayerfully as the latter, must labor hard to stifle the feeling that the clock of earth, instead of getting ready to stop, is being wound up to keep good time for a thousand years, as a prelude to that perfect righteousness which shall dwell forever on the new earth and beneath the new heavens.

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THE LONDON UNION MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.

The London Union Missionary Conference was held in November. The Congregational churches of America were represented by Dr. Clark of the American Board, and Dr. O. H. White of the Freedmen’s Aid Society, of London, who also represented the American Missionary Association, to which the F. A. Society is auxiliary. The last gathering of the kind in England was in 1860, at which one hundred and twenty-six delegates assembled. The sessions were mainly private, the societies represented were chiefly British, and plans were discussed rather than achievements reported. This later meeting was somewhat different in its character. Six hundred delegates were in attendance from various lands and denominations of Christians. It was not so much a conference on methods as a comparison of results. The sessions of the week were apportioned to the work in the various lands. A great mass of information was collected, which will doubtless be more impressive and complete in the volume of proceedings to be published, than it could have been in the hearing.

The character of the meetings may be inferred from the following sketch of the time devoted to the “Dark Continent,” in which we are especially interested. We copy from the correspondent of the _Christian Union_: “Two sessions on Tuesday were devoted to Africa and its many tribes. An Irish peer, the Earl of Cavan, presided, and the attendance of delegates and friends was large. Dr. Underhill, of the Baptist Missionary Society, discoursed on the benefits of emancipation, and showed what an important bearing the evangelizing of the negro race must have on the conversion of all West Africa. Sir Fowell Buxton, the son of the great advocate of emancipation forty years ago, described the three schemes now being carried out for planting new missions on the three great lakes of Central Africa. Dr. Stewart, of the Free Church Mission at Livingstonia, on Lake Nyassa, described the principle and the plan of the missionary institution at Lovedale, in the Cape Colony, which he has managed for several years. This is a model institution, with industrial as well as educational and theological departments; and is just the thing which the native tribes of South Africa need for their enlightenment. Dr. Lowe, the Secretary of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, also read an admirable paper on the work, methods and usefulness of medical missions generally. Several of the medical missionaries who have recently gone out to Africa were Dr. Lowe’s pupils.

“Among the effective speakers on these African missions were Dr. Waugemann, of Berlin, who described the work of the Berlin Society, especially in the Transvaal; Dr. White, of the Freedmen’s Aid Mission; the Rev. E. Schrenck, of Basle, who spoke of work in Ashantee; and the Rev. Dr. Moffat, who told the Conference about his Bechuanas, and of course with his strong gray hair and his eighty-three years of age and sixty-two years of service for Christ, received an ovation at its hands. The noble presence and the stirring words of the grand old man on the African day were a striking feature in the meetings of the Conference.”

Such gatherings must help on the cause of Christian comity in missions, as well as broaden the views of all who are engaged in working the field under their hands. It is well to look up sometimes from our own furrow, even if we have to stop ploughing for a little, that we may realize that the field is the world, and that the harvest belongs to one Master.

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THE POLITICAL PROGRESS OF THE FREEDMEN.

BY REV. M. E. STRIEBY.

Was it wise to give the ballot to the ex-slaves? The answer that came in the hour it was given, from the Congress that gave it, from the Northern people that sustained it, and from the colored people that enjoyed it, was an emphatic and enthusiastic “Yes!” The answer that came at that hour from the Southern white man was in a suppressed voice, and was an execration hissed out between grinding teeth. Since that hour the voice of the Southern white man has grown firmer, and, as it came up from misgoverned South Carolina and Louisiana, has rounded out into a full-toned “No!” Nay, more, it has been re-echoed from the North, and recently with special emphasis from the lips of one of the purest Christian scholars on the heights of Christian learning in New England. What answer do I give? Unhesitatingly, “Yes!” I say nothing about the mere party reason given either then or since, for I do not write as a partisan. I put the wisdom of the ballot on more substantial grounds.

1. It saved the Freedmen from being again reduced to slavery. Vagrant laws were passed, which confined them to the plantations on which they had engaged to work, the end of which would have been a serfdom attaching them to the soil. The ballot saved them from this.

2. It gave the Freedmen and the South a free school system—a greater boon than Southern legislation ever gave them before—a boon without which all else would have been well-nigh in vain. That system was modeled after the best patterns at the North, and although it has been somewhat modified and enfeebled in practical operation, is yet a solid corner-stone in the foundation of the new superstructure which the South is rearing.

3. The ballot gave the Freedman a sense of self-respect, and commanded for him the respect of others. To him it was an education and an inspiration. It gave him the standing of a man among men, and prompted him to become worthy of his position. It was a power to him in the early days of his freedom, when he needed every help to sustain him in that freedom; and to-day, though it is held in check and almost useless, yet it is a slumbering giant, and is watched with respectful caution by the whites. For who can tell what such a slumbering power might do if aroused?

At present the black voter is politically conquered. The “white man’s government” is established, and it is the purpose of the white man that it shall remain so. This has been easily attained in the States where the white majority is undoubted. In the few States where the blacks are in the majority, the white man is determined to rule, peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must. The Chisholm murder and the Hamburg massacre are but samples of the methods that will be resorted to if the effort is pushed persistently to restore the supremacy of the black man in politics. When we remember how that supremacy in those States was abused, how can we ask the restoration if the abuse must again follow? The problem is difficult. It can be solved only by one formula. The black man must be protected in his political rights, and he must be so enlightened as to use and not abuse those rights. There will be no permanent advantage from a mere partisan triumph of the black man. If achieved, as matters now stand, bayonets will again be needed to sustain it, and will become once more a source of angry discussion at the North and of concentrated bitterness at the South. The experiment may again be necessary; but a far better thing should be speedily, steadily and efficiently pushed forward—the training of the colored voter for an intelligent and responsible manhood and citizenship.

If every colored voter could be accompanied to the polls by a file of soldiers armed with muskets, his ballot would represent the musket and not the man. But if he becomes a property owner, with all the interest in the welfare of the community which property gives; if he is educated and can take an _intelligent_ interest in the welfare of the community; and if he acquires a weight of character that challenges respect, he will need no soldiers to guard him to the polls, and his vote will represent the man and not the musket.

When the black man shall reach such a position he conquers caste-prejudice and wipes out the color-line in politics. Color is significant only as it represents condition. Change the condition and the color is of no consequence. With that change the white and black men at the South will divide on politics as white men do at the North, from differing views as to the best measures to promote public weal.

Look on this picture: An armed and organized mob is breaking up a political gathering of the blacks and their friends, and in the background are the overawed Freedmen retiring from the polls. Look, also, on this picture: A company of United States soldiers are keeping guard over a body of legislators, mostly black, who, with reckless rascality, are squandering the public funds, to the ruin of the State and the disgrace of the nation. Turn not from these pictures with indifference, for they are no fancy sketches; nay, face them, for the history of at least two States of this Union is liable to be a perpetual oscillation between the two. But now look on this picture: A colored man is tilling his land, adorning his home, and gathering around him the refinements of life. Near by is the school-house, where his children, with hundreds of others, are receiving the instruction of skilful teachers, and not far off is the church edifice where that man and his neighbors worship God under the ministration of a well educated and pious minister.

Which picture do we choose, not as a matter of artistic preference, but as the practical model for patriotic work? The only safety is to extend that last picture till it shall cover the whole canvas and blot out the other two. In that way only can a life and death struggle between two irreconcilable forces be avoided.

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“THESE MY BRETHREN.”